The concept of molds for receiving food in a plastic state and molding it into a specific shape, such as a ball, is well known in the art. In general, prior art devices have often included a fixed upper mold part having a cavity formed therein with movable lower portions acting to close the mold, shape the lower portion of the molded comestible and then, by opening, aid in the release of the comestible in its formed shape. Molds for forming balls of materials such as ice cream, are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,080,830 and 3,029,750. As can be seen in these patents, an upper fixed half of the mold has a hemispherical cavity and the movable parts of the mold are hinged quadri-spheres which, in the closed position, form the lower half of the ball and open to allow the completely formed ball to be released onto a conveyor plate or the like. Heater jets directed at the quadri-spheres maintain a fluid surface layer of comestible, in order to aid in the release of the shaped balls. A scraper blade pivoted at both ends about a horizontal axis is employed to separate the ball from the upper hemisphere cavity. Various mechanical linkages such as rotating arms and cranks have been employed to control and synchronize the motion of the movable quadri-sphere elements.
A valve for controlling the flow of a comestible substantially as shown in FIG. 6 herein has been previously designed and sold by the applicant several years ago in a device for extruding rosettes onto unconfined ice cream slices in a production line. This valve has the property of reducing extrusion pressure and flow volume as it closes, followed by a negative pressure and flow as the valve plunger continues to retract. Such pressure/flow characteristics closely approximate the characteristics involved in the manual fabrication of rosettes, e.g., using a pastry bag. It is believed that such a valve has not previously been used as a component of a closed pressurized comestible molding system.